Carl Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year career with the Boston Red Sox. Yaz is an 18-time all-star, the possessor of seven Gold Gloves, a member of the 3000 hit club, and a member of the Hall of Fame. In 1967, Yaz was voted the American League MVP and is the last winner of the triple crown in the major leagues.

Montreal Maroon Season 29 Preview

Season 28 saw the Maroons finish below .500 for the first time in 20 seasons. Unhappy with this result, management busied themselves this off season with improving the ML on-field product in mind. It was abundantly clear that the main shortcoming of the roster last season was that besides MVP Juan Valenzuela and LF Ernie Jenkins, there was not much by way of hitting.

Since there isn't much help coming up from the farm, management decided that it was time to add a boost to the lineup via free agency. With there being a huge crop of high end talent available, the Maroons decided to target a few of the lesser lights in hopes of securing some decent talent without being caught up by any bidding wars. The gambit paid off, as the team signed 3 type A free agents to reasonably priced, short term contracts. The first to sign was former first overall pick Scott McGowan, to man 3rd base. Next up was Toronto's Santo Figureoa, who will play RF. Edgardo Johnson should bolster the back end of the rotation for the franchise that originally signed him as an IFA.

Management did not sit on their hands for long, as it was soon announced that the team had pulled off a blockbuster trade that would bring a great deal more hitting ability to the team without taking anything away from the current roster. By trading Andres Veras, Willie Pena and Willie Miranda for Juan Polanco, Albie Nieto, and Yonder Trevino, they add hitting and fielding in exchange for pitching and youth. Both teams came out of the deal happy, but history will tell which one came out ahead in the end.

This team added a pretty decent amount of talent to the ML level this off-season. It says here that they added enough to earn the 10 more wins necessary to fetch a wildcard spot. We predict that, barring any catastrophic injury troubles, this team should battle it out with Philadelphia all season for the division title, but will ultimately fall short by one or two games.

Prediction:

- 90-72, 2nd in NL North, 2nd wildcard spot, loss in the first or second round of playoffs.